AN IDEAL EUROPEAN SCHOOL
On Saturday 11 March, two students and one teacher from each partner school arrived in Köping to be accommodated before the actual start of the project week. This means a total of eight students from England, Finland and Germany were met at the train station by Swedish host families (although these too had various national backgrounds) and brought to their Swedish homes for the following seven days.
The next day the teachers and students made a trip by coach to Västerås to engage in physically and intellectually challenging activities in ”Prison Island”, located in the city centre, and to visit an interesting historical site called Anundshög. In between these two activities we had a lunch break at a fast food restaurant where a separate room of perfect size for our group had been reserved. The students had thus many opportunities to talk and to cooperate, which lay a good foundation for their joint project work starting Monday 13 March.
Monday morning, the visiting teachers presented themselves to the staff of Scheeleskolan before the start of lessons at 8:10 am. Shortly thereafter, the assistant headteacher gave the visiting students a quick tour of the school. They were then invited to take part in so called ice-breaking activities, lead by the PE teacher who had been to Finland for another Teaching/Training/Learning activitiy in September last year.
At about 10 am, students and teachers from all partner schools gathered in a conference room where the visiting students showed PowerPoints of their respective schools to peers and instructors. The presentations were really impressive and gave good insight into many aspects of the schools. For example, the two students from Germany showed excellent speaking skills in English on the one hand and creativity in making a slideshow plus a film about a day in their school on the other hand. There was a lunch break and then the presentations went on for an hour or so. After that, the visiting students prepared interview questions for the Swedish headteacher and Swedish students regarding Scheeleskolan. The English teacher leading the workshop activities concluded the day in school with some reminders for the students. In the late afternoon, the visiting students and their hosts spent time together in a leisure centre called Kuggen.
On Tuesday morning, the visiting students had an hour-long interview with the assistant headteacher. Then, after attending maths classes in two separate classrooms, these students also had the opportunity to interview some of the Swedish students and teachers about their experience of Scheeleskolan. Finally, they visited Modern Foreign Language lessons in French, German or Spanish from 2:10 pm to 3 pm.Their presence was much appreciated, especially as the about half of the Swedish students who would usually bein these lessons were having work experience during the week instead. At 5 pm, students and teaching staff met at the bowling arena in Köping to have a good time together.
On Wednesday, a group of ten students and five teachers, i.e. three people from each school, went for an educational study visit to Hammarskolan in Surahammar, a small town situated about 25 kilometers north-east of Köping. Staff at that school had made arrangements for the visitors to look around at the different buildings that belong to the school, to attend lessons in different subjects and to interview students and teachers during the day. Hammarskolan offered a free lunch for all the visitors, as was also the case at Scheeleskolan the other days of the week. Thus, the students were allowed to compare many aspects of the schools before making the final product of the project week: A presentation of their concept of the Ideal European School.
The following day back in Köping, the Swedish speaking students taught basic expressions in Swedish to their new international friends in a classroom. Later that Thursday, the Erasmus+ students started working in teams with three or four members per team. They discussed how they perceived an ideal school based on the qualities of the European schools that they had seen, either in real life or by means of a PowerPoint on the first day of the week. They put down their ideas in English, as a first step toward making PowerPoints about the Ideal European School in three languages, i.e. English, French and Spanish. This teamwork continued during Friday morning and early afternoon in a rather relaxed atmosphere in the conference room. The PowerPoints were due to be presented at 2 pm to the headteacher, part of the teaching staff and most students of Year 7. However some of the Erasmus+ students weren’t quite ready at that time. We also had trouble turning on the projector in the big hall, but it all worked out well after some 15 minutes of confusion and trial. The audience showed a great deal of interest, patience and respect for the students on stage during the presentations. Many contributed to the success of the event, but the visiting teacher from Ounsdale was particularly acclaimed for his part in making things work.
The whole week of Teaching/Training/Learning activities was coming to an end, but there was going to be another highlight before the end of Friday. The evening meal with funny games, delicious food and musical entertainment, including students and teachers singing a wide range of material in different languages, was a memorable finale to this week of intense activity and international rapprochement. An adult from each host family was also invited and some of them expressed how happy they were to have one or two guests at home for a week.
At 7 am on Saturday morning the students gathered at the train station of Köping to start their journey back to their home countries, accompanied by their teachers. The PE teacher mentioned earlier was there to say goodbye to everybody and the guests expressed their appreciation of the arrangements for the project week.
We would like to express our thanks to everyone at Scheeleskolan for making the guests feel so welcome and for organising a fantastic week.
On Saturday 11 March, two students and one teacher from each partner school arrived in Köping to be accommodated before the actual start of the project week. This means a total of eight students from England, Finland and Germany were met at the train station by Swedish host families (although these too had various national backgrounds) and brought to their Swedish homes for the following seven days.
The next day the teachers and students made a trip by coach to Västerås to engage in physically and intellectually challenging activities in ”Prison Island”, located in the city centre, and to visit an interesting historical site called Anundshög. In between these two activities we had a lunch break at a fast food restaurant where a separate room of perfect size for our group had been reserved. The students had thus many opportunities to talk and to cooperate, which lay a good foundation for their joint project work starting Monday 13 March.
Monday morning, the visiting teachers presented themselves to the staff of Scheeleskolan before the start of lessons at 8:10 am. Shortly thereafter, the assistant headteacher gave the visiting students a quick tour of the school. They were then invited to take part in so called ice-breaking activities, lead by the PE teacher who had been to Finland for another Teaching/Training/Learning activitiy in September last year.
At about 10 am, students and teachers from all partner schools gathered in a conference room where the visiting students showed PowerPoints of their respective schools to peers and instructors. The presentations were really impressive and gave good insight into many aspects of the schools. For example, the two students from Germany showed excellent speaking skills in English on the one hand and creativity in making a slideshow plus a film about a day in their school on the other hand. There was a lunch break and then the presentations went on for an hour or so. After that, the visiting students prepared interview questions for the Swedish headteacher and Swedish students regarding Scheeleskolan. The English teacher leading the workshop activities concluded the day in school with some reminders for the students. In the late afternoon, the visiting students and their hosts spent time together in a leisure centre called Kuggen.
On Tuesday morning, the visiting students had an hour-long interview with the assistant headteacher. Then, after attending maths classes in two separate classrooms, these students also had the opportunity to interview some of the Swedish students and teachers about their experience of Scheeleskolan. Finally, they visited Modern Foreign Language lessons in French, German or Spanish from 2:10 pm to 3 pm.Their presence was much appreciated, especially as the about half of the Swedish students who would usually bein these lessons were having work experience during the week instead. At 5 pm, students and teaching staff met at the bowling arena in Köping to have a good time together.
On Wednesday, a group of ten students and five teachers, i.e. three people from each school, went for an educational study visit to Hammarskolan in Surahammar, a small town situated about 25 kilometers north-east of Köping. Staff at that school had made arrangements for the visitors to look around at the different buildings that belong to the school, to attend lessons in different subjects and to interview students and teachers during the day. Hammarskolan offered a free lunch for all the visitors, as was also the case at Scheeleskolan the other days of the week. Thus, the students were allowed to compare many aspects of the schools before making the final product of the project week: A presentation of their concept of the Ideal European School.
The following day back in Köping, the Swedish speaking students taught basic expressions in Swedish to their new international friends in a classroom. Later that Thursday, the Erasmus+ students started working in teams with three or four members per team. They discussed how they perceived an ideal school based on the qualities of the European schools that they had seen, either in real life or by means of a PowerPoint on the first day of the week. They put down their ideas in English, as a first step toward making PowerPoints about the Ideal European School in three languages, i.e. English, French and Spanish. This teamwork continued during Friday morning and early afternoon in a rather relaxed atmosphere in the conference room. The PowerPoints were due to be presented at 2 pm to the headteacher, part of the teaching staff and most students of Year 7. However some of the Erasmus+ students weren’t quite ready at that time. We also had trouble turning on the projector in the big hall, but it all worked out well after some 15 minutes of confusion and trial. The audience showed a great deal of interest, patience and respect for the students on stage during the presentations. Many contributed to the success of the event, but the visiting teacher from Ounsdale was particularly acclaimed for his part in making things work.
The whole week of Teaching/Training/Learning activities was coming to an end, but there was going to be another highlight before the end of Friday. The evening meal with funny games, delicious food and musical entertainment, including students and teachers singing a wide range of material in different languages, was a memorable finale to this week of intense activity and international rapprochement. An adult from each host family was also invited and some of them expressed how happy they were to have one or two guests at home for a week.
At 7 am on Saturday morning the students gathered at the train station of Köping to start their journey back to their home countries, accompanied by their teachers. The PE teacher mentioned earlier was there to say goodbye to everybody and the guests expressed their appreciation of the arrangements for the project week.
We would like to express our thanks to everyone at Scheeleskolan for making the guests feel so welcome and for organising a fantastic week.